


The Calm Before the Storm

by s0lesurvivor (orphan_account)



Category: The Walking Dead (Comics)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Gore, Oral, Smut, Some Fluff, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 06:12:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5573836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/s0lesurvivor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After having lost the prison to the hellions of Woodbury as well as his wife - Rick finds refuge within a friend whom has clung to his spine since they met. </p><p> </p><p> ≥ A one shot for Rick Grimes, set in the verse of the<br/>comics!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> This one shot will be a few chapters long, there's a (somewhat explained) relationship between Rick and the narrator.

It had all happened so quick, the sounds of disgruntled gurgling and hot ammunition. I could not tear my eyes away from Lori's body as it fell atop of what was left of her newborn, bits of her tattered body littering the lawn we had plowned for food behind her. I wanted so badly to cry out for her, to grieve for what we had just lost - but Rick afforded no time for that. He had two strong arms clutched around my fragile waist, yanking me away from the scene. "We have to go," he yelled over the sounds of death and decay around us, I could hear the throbbing tears cling to the back of his throat. However, something in my body clung to the sight of her lifeless body, the loss of a child. If it wasn't for Rick, the way he lifted me over his strong shoulder with adreneline infused grasps - I would've been devoured by the impeding horde as I gaped at the death of his wife. Though, it would be a cold day in hell before Rick allowed another one of us to die and he trudged on, clearing a path for my shock ridden body and his son so we could escape the infestation of dead.

That had been a month ago, if the makeshift calendar I created had been correct and since then we had been scavenging cars along the highway and destroyed homes that had once housed pieces of civilization. At this point in time, we were holed up within a cookie cutter household, windows draped with sheets as to not attract the dead. It was beautiful, though - a single home that had somehow been saved from theft and loitering. It still had the soft smell of snuffed candles and laundry soap within its wall. I had collapsed beside Rick upon a dust covered sofa - his whole being finally melting as he took his first real break in months. I could tell this was true by the way his shouders slumped and his eyes began to lid over. He was taking the death of his wife better now than ever, so did Carl who had disappeared upstairs for a nap, one he deserved. "How are you holding up?" I used my avid tongue to break the silence, the words timid as they left my throat. The two of us, we hadn't exchanged much over the past month. Merely gruff body language and a smile from time to time. So, when the once young cop beside me laid a calloused palm to the swell of my knee and looked at me with sad eyes, something within me broke.

See, I hadn't lost all of my friends like he had. I was barely broken into the prison, a new attacement to the group after having freed myself from the grasps of Woodbury. No one had taken a liking to me, a rat is how I was viewed - except Rick. We would share soft spoken talks in dimly lit cells while everyone slept. He referred to me as "his new favorite trouble maker", first in line to Carl. He was fond of my high spirits and innocent manner, the way I held so much hope for humanity as if it hadn't gone to shit already. I still do.

Lori had resented me for that, the way I clung to her husband's hip and the way he allowed it. There was no Rick without I far behind. Maybe he did it to spite Lori for the way she had betrayed him with his own best friend not even weeks after they left for Atlanta or maybe he just needed a friend and I was good for that. I had advice and silly qualms for every word he spewed at me. Perhaps, as mere speculation, that was why worry filled his eyes when he had almost lost two of his girls - his being the only term I could coin up.

"I'm holding up alright, you," he mused, a quick thumb swiping a comforting stroke along the rigid cuts in my denim jeans. Rick's eyes bled grief, yet a bit of light shined through that darkness and I did my best to cling to that. "I know you're a big, bad man, but you don't have to lie to me," I prodded at him with my words. I was a therapist back in my days, a fiend for psychology and the way the brain worked. He knew that and he winced every time I had caught him in a lie, caught him behind his walls. I did the same for Maggie when she had gone off, keeping her pregnancy a secret within myself with hopes she too had made it out alive.

"I hate that you can read just about anyone," his word weren't sour, but not quaint either and they hung about in the silence between us for what felt like hours before he spoke up again. "I can't stop thinking about that night, little bee," Rick was somber now, the way his tongue flicked over the nickname I was assigned by both him and Hershel, due to how I "buzzed" around the prison eager to help, made the hairs on my arm stick upright. "I had lost my wife and my child, but God, I almost lost you," it was his sigh that stormed the room and I almost had to steel myself against the couch to catch myself. "Ain't that horrible? My wife was bleeding out against the lawn with my dead baby girl in her arms and all I could see was your face and the way those walkers almost got a hold of you."

The room was silent as he took his next breath, dirty fingers roaming through his greasy locks whilst I tucked my knees up against my chest. I had no words to offer him at this moment, the only time this man had ever rendered me speechless. He looked over at me now and I felt obligated to meet his gaze, dark hues searching mine for an answer.


End file.
